A Day in Leigh, Lancashire

Friday 31st July, 2015 in Leigh, Lancashire
We awoke to a bright morning and very still waters reflecting the houses opposite. Where the modern housing now stands, there used to be a ropeworks that made rope out of the waste cotton yarn from local mills. It primarily supplied the boat industry. Unfortunately it burnt down in 1981 having been in business for a century and a half.

We had decided to stay two nights here as there is a lock closed for repairs six miles ahead of us on the outskirts of Wigan. The C&RT hopes to have it re-opened tomorrow morning but, as it has been closed for a week, there will be a number of boats queuing to get through - so there is no point in rushing, and anyway, narrowboaters are renowned for doing everything slowly!
As a result, we had a day in Leigh, and very nice it was too. This is a very pleasant mooring next to the Waterside Inn, a former warehouse.

We took the opportunity to wash MM down, in particular because of soot smuts on the roof; obviously someone had a coal fire in the marina where MM spent the last three weeks.  The smuts have to be scrubbed off, a laborious process. MM generated a lot of interest from passing locals and we were bombarded with questions. Who knows, some of those may go out and rent, or even buy, a narrowboat one day! From tiny acorns and all that...
Only fifty yards away from our mooring is a good sized branch of Aldi. We needed the usual "few bits" and R suggested that we call in there to buy the heavier items in order to save his arms.

M, who has hitherto disdained Aldi, agreed that this was a good idea - on condition that we went on to the M&S Food store afterwards for the rest. But no!! We were most impressed with Aldi! The shop was light and airy, had wide aisles, all the produce was nicely packaged and presented and - to M's delight - the fruit and veg were excellent.We emerged with two full carrier bags, having spent a lot less than we expected!

M compared the itemised bill with Wednesday's from M&S and found that most of the items were around half the price!
R has cunningly researched the location of every Costa we are likely to find on our travels on the Leeds and Liverpool! So, no longer needing to go to M&S, we set off to reward ourselves at the local Costa located inside a pleasant indoor shopping area that incorporated a sizeable indoor market.

The main street through Leigh has been pedestrianised and it was crowded and bustling. We couldn't help thinking what a shame it is that the same approach was not adopted in Runcorn to give the town some life and character.
On the way back, we did go via the M&S Food store, which was next to a very large Sainsbury's, in order to research a possible purchase of wine (we do already have a plentiful supply on board, but we have a useful voucher from Sainsbury's!). M came out of the M&S store without buying anything. "Is she feeling alright?" thought R in surprise!
We walked back along the towpath, although the path from the road to the towpath felt more like the jungle!

We had a very relaxed afternoon on MM and M prepared an experimental salad dish - chicken, avocado and mango salad. All the veg came from Aldi and it was delicious!!
Today: MM had a rest.

A Piece of Mining History

Thursday 30th July, 2015 in Leigh, Lancashire.
We're back on board MM after three weeks at home and up in the Lake District at Hope Farm. The Lake District was as beautiful as ever and one thing that the Lake District and the canals share is magnificent sunsets! This one was at Hope Farm. Magic!

Yesterday we took the bus-train-train-bus journey to Worsley just west of Manchester, where MM is moored up. After settling up with our hosts, we reversed out and looked back down the arm where MM had been moored for the past three weeks. Note the colour of the water!  This is due to the ironstone leaching from the nearby mines.

After only a few yards, it became obvious that we had picked something up on the propellor, so we had to stop for R to remove it. More plastic bags!

Just opposite where we stopped is the much photographed "Packet House" and to the right is the entrance to the Duke of Bridgewater's mine and the 47 miles of underground canals. It was the success of his new "canal" carrying the coal to Manchester that started the whole "canal mania" movement in 1761.

The Bridgewater Canal proved to be wide and surprisingly little used; we passed only two moving boats all day. Gradually after leaving Worsley, there was a dramatic change in the water quality. The bronze soup-like colour and consistency gave way to water so clear that we could see the bottom!
After a couple of miles, we stopped at a marina to use the facilities and departed feeling very pleased with ourselves with a full diesel tank, a full water tank and an empty "poo" tank. Perfect! Meanwhile, M busied herself giving some TLC to the geranium pots after our three weeks' absence.

Astley Green, a former colliery, is now a museum and its winding gear over the pit shaft is the last remaining in Lancashire. It used to have two shafts but at least the winding gear and engine house of one has been saved.

The pit closed in 1970 and became derelict, but 25 years of volunteer labour has restored the steam driven winding gear to full working order and it is run (using compressed air) occasionally. The steam engine and winding gear is absolutely huge. The two two-stage steam pistons are on either side and the cable drum in the middle. The engines could drive the cages up and down the 873 yard deep shaft at 55 mph!! Amazing, given the weight of the loads (men and loaded coal trucks).  Each of the two steel cables weighed 18 tons alone!

We were lucky enough to meet a volunteer who had been a miner himself and was a fount of knowledge on the site and mining history in general.
There is a mass of equipment all over the site in need of restoration, so we are sure that the museum will be even more splendid in another 25 years.
The approach to Leigh in Lancashire was heralded by impressive former mills, some resembling mosques with towers and shiny domes; and the customary supermarket trolley in the canal! At Bridge 11, in the middle of the town, the Bridgewater Canal unobtrusively becomes the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. There was no fanfare to accompany the change, so we settled for a "high five" together.

Just after the bridge is a former mill, now the Waterside Inn, which offers 48 hour mooring on the non-towpath side and we were lucky enough to slip right in and moored up for the night all of 50 yards on to the Leeds and Liverpool!

As night fell, a full moon rose in the sky, shining through our bedroon window.

In fact it was a "blue moon", being the second full moon in the month.
Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 3.8 hours.
Trip: 141 miles, 53 locks and 83.7 hours.

A Detour to Old Trafford and then on to Worsley.

Wednesday 8th July, 2015 at Worsley.
We set off early in light drizzle, which was forecast to last for most of the day. One week ago was the hottest day for ten years and Wimbledon organisers were worried about heat exhaustion. Today we were wearing several layers including fleeces, scarves and waterproofs! Our English climate never fails to surprise!
A brief interlude of a rather more rural area after Sale soon gave way to a fairly unattractive industrialised stretch. The tunnel under the M60 seemed endless.

At "Waters Meeting", we met up with the original canal built by the Duke of Bridgewater in 1765 to carry his coal from Worsley (to the left) to Manchester (to the right). This was the original canal, the success of which led to the years of "canal mania" that continued until the arrival of the railways.

Given the significance of this historic junction, it was surprising to see no signpost or sign of any kind at the junction, nor did it live up to its picturesque name! Our route takes us to Worsley, on our way to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal; but given the proximity of a rather well-known local football stadium, we decided to turn right towards Manchester first for a quick detour.
We sailed a couple of miles up the canal to find somewhere where we could turn. This was at a place called Pomona, where there is a lock that leads down on to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Unfortunately, there was work being done on the tram bridge that spans the canal and the lock so the winding hole was severely restricted, but R's exemplary manoeuvring skills enabled us to get round despite the obstructions and the strong wind.

We sailed back down towards the junction and managed to moor up immediately opposite Old Trafford. What a mooring spot!

M had been here before to see a match when Man Utd were playing Panathinaikos, Man Utd won 4-0 with Beckham as Captain (that will date it!); but R had never been - so we couldn't resist going in to have a look. R posed in front of the entrance and "Megastore" under the statue of Sir Matt Busby.

This marvellous tribute to George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton stands opposite the main entrance.

Round the side is the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, which includes the "Red Cafe" and we went in for a warming drink (it was perishing cold for July!).

Each chair in the restaurant is named for a particular player and from the cafe we could look down on MM below.

Back on board MM, we returned to the junction and turned up towards Worsley. The areas on either side of the canal were still very industrialised including a massive facility owned by Kelloggs. Just think, this is where your cornflakes come from!

As we passed, we saw three employees walking behind the high fence - and each was carrying a box of cereal! Their lunch, we wondered?
At Barton, we crossed the huge swing bridge that carries the canal across the Ship Canal.

These days the swing bridge is very rarely opened as there is not much traffic on the Ship Canal this far north. The road bridge is also a swing bridge, but in the distance you can just see the high bridge constructed for the M60 motorway.

Worsley is our final destination for today and we moored up just a few hundred yards before the "Delph", which is the location of the entrance to the Duke of Bridgewater's coal mine. It has long since been abandoned, but there used to be over forty miles of canals underground to bring the coal out on to the Bridgewater Canal here. At last, the sun put in an appearance!

We had a quick walk around but we will save a proper exploration for when we return.
Tomorrow, we will put MM into the nearby marina and leave her for a couple of weeks as we have to go home for various committments.
Our diary will continue when we return - so please watch this space...
Today: 11 miles, 0 locks and 3.4 hours.
Trip: 135 miles, 53 locks and 79.9 hours.

Detritus on the Propellor and Torrential Rain

Tuesday 7th July, 2015 at Ashton-on-Mersey.
More rain overnight. M remarked rather sourly that it should have been precipitating on our garden back at home instead.
Rather reluctant to leave lovely Lymm, we set off during a brief interlude of sunshine. Almost immediately it was clear that we had something caught on the propellor, so we stopped for R to grope down in the weed hatch to remove it.

It is the first time this year that we have picked something up on the propellor, so we can't really grumble.
Soon after, the forecast rain started in earnest. It became torrential and, although we were sheltering under an umbrella (with both of us holding on to it to stop it blowing away), the water ran off the edge of  the umbrella and on to the seat where M was sitting. Soon she grizzled that her top was dry but she was wet through to her underwear from below!

Normally, if the weather is this bad, we would moor up and not move - but we need to go home for a couple of weeks for various reasons and therefore have booked MM into a marina at Worsley; so, we have to travel rain or shine to get there by Thursday morning. Bum!

Thereafter, the rain continued as showers all day. We moored up on the border between Sale and Ashton-on-Mersey, outside a pub called the King's Ransom, converted from a former warehouse.

A walk into the centre of town was mandatory due to the presence of a certain coffee shop.

The centre is pedestrianised and much redeveloped; M declared it to be soulless and decided that rather describing it as the "outskirts" of Manchester, the "underpants" would be a more apposite desription. A bit harsh perhaps? ("No" says M!).

Surprisingly, given the proximity of the busy pub, the road and the tram lines, the mooring was agreeably quiet overnight.

Today: 8 miles, 0 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 124 miles, 53 locks and 76.5 hours.

More Rain and HMS Sexy!

Monday 6th July, 2015 in Lymm.
Awoke to a lovely morning; at 4am the dawn chorus from the woods on either side was a joy.
Despite dark warnings yesterday evening that "everyone round here is a drug dealer, so watch out" from a passing couple, we neither saw nor heard any evidence of nefarious activity unless you count the hopeful hungry passing ducks and swans. On the contrary, the place had a wonderfully quiet and serene atmosphere.

After breakfast, rather reluctant to leave this atmospheric spot, we set off back to the junction with the main line. Unfortunately, the sun deserted us, sending cold air and rain in its place. So, out came the Stobarts' umbrella and the waterproofs.

As we turned north on the Bridgewater, we were once more in virgin territory for us. We've never been this far north before.
Stockton Heath has shops and a Post Office; M needed to get a card weighed to send congratulations to Eva for winning 1st and 2nd places in her school sports day.
We walked through the town to the Manchester Ship Canal, which runs parallel to the canal on the other  side of the town. It's huge!  So are the bridges which span it.

R was very pleased to find a Costa on the way back... ("well, there's a surprise"" thought M).

But M was equally excited to find one of her favourite shops with an irresistible sign in the window... "Sale!"

Unfortunately the shoes that she liked were not comfortable - and so she left disappointed.
It rained heavily in the afternoon and we passed a group of teenagers having a great time despite the weather on a day boat that they had christened "HMS Sexy" complete with its own flag.

They waved cheerfully and blew us many kisses as we passed! We reciprocated, naturally!
At one point R heard a deep aero-engine noise and turned to see a Catalina flying by towards John Lennon Airport. One of only two flying examples in Europe, so a happy chance.
We were glad to reach Lymm and moor up for the day. During a break in the rain, we walked into the town. It's a delight. Very small and pretty with narrow cobbled streets - and it even still had its old stocks! Unfortunately, M had no rotten eggs or squashed tomatoes to hand....

We found an excellent coffee shop and bakery called "Sextons" where we were obliged to take shelter from the rain, which had returned.

Today: 11 miles, 0 locks and 3.9 hours.
Trip: 116 miles, 53 locks and 73.6 hours.

From Cheshire to Lancashire on Foot.

Sunday 5th July, 2105 at Norton Priory, Castlefields.
This was an idyllic mooring, so peaceful and in the midst of dense woodland.
We set off early to do the two and a half miles to Runcorn. The rural tranquillity gave way to evidence of a built-up area and detritis in the canal including - would you believe - a sofa! However, it was delightful to see that the grass verges on the towpath are a haven for dozens of wild orchids.
The Runcorn Arm meets its Waterloo in the town basin with a road bridge most appropriately named "Waterloo Bridge".

Before the canal was truncated by an road "expressway" in 1970, two parallel flights of 10 locks took the canal down to the Manchester Ship Canal. We walked down along the line of the old flight and some of the lock chamber sides can still be seen.

Apparently the locks were filled in with sand and there is real hope that they can be reinstated one day. At the foot of the flight was a humble little place, built for the Duke of Bridgewater as a "temporary" residence, so that he could watch his canal being completed!

We moved MM a quarter of a mile from the end of the canal and moored her up opposite the centre of Runcorn. It was sad to see the demise of what must have been a vibrant little community in Runcorn. In the 1960's, it was designated as a "New Town" and, in addition to building vast estates of new houses all around it, the original town was dwarfed and carved up by massive expressways which fly over the little streets of red-brick terraced houses; one of these huge roads truncated the canal. The Sixties were certainly the Philistine years for the canals, the railways, town planning and architecture.

We walked through the rather depressing centre of Runcorn down to the Manchester Ship Canal where our imagination was caught by the sight of the huge suspension bridge which spans the Ship Canal and the Mersey and connects Runcorn on the south side to Widnes on the north.

Since our hopes to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco in 2012 had been dashed by torrential rain, we decided that this was too good an opportunity to miss and so set off to find our way up on to the pedestrian walkway. The views over the Mersey and the Ship Canal, divided by only a stone wall, were spectacular. In the estuary, the tide was out, exposing the sandbanks. Fascinating!

We could truthfully claim that by walking from Runcorn in the south to Widnes in the north, we had walked from Cheshire to Lancashire! The first sight of Lancashire was this very inviting looking pub.

To our surprise, another vista unfolded on the Lancashire side. The familiar sight of many green, red and white trucks could mean only one thing: an Eddie Stobart Depot! Hooray! Whilst we knew that there was a depot in Widnes, we did not realise that it was so close to the bridge. In addition to the truck depot, there is an Eddie Stobart Ports facility and we could see the huge cranes and containers. M posed happily in front of the entrance.

Other spotters were in evidence and one of them, David, very kindly ferried us round in his car to the other side of the main depot where there was a facility for handling new trucks and another for trucks that were being decommissioned - neither of which we could ever have found on foot.

All in all, we "bagged" eighty-five Eddies, an excellent haul!
M was surprised to find this lovely little specimen on one of the banks beside the depot; its a "Common Centaury", but she said it is far too pretty to be designated "common"!

By the time we had walked back across the bridge, we getting decidedly footsore but just as we got back to the canal, the dark clouds which had been gathering brought with them a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain. As the day had started warm and sunny, we were hardly dressed for rain, so we sheltered under a canal bridge in sight of MM and frustratingly only a couple of hundred yards away. We could see her in the distance - so near yet so far!

After half and hour or so, the rain eased off and we made the dash back to MM as fast as we could. We still got wet, but it was worth it as MM was warm, dry and inviting!
By six o'clock the sun came out and we decided to cruise back to the same mooring as last night by Norton Priory, passing this handsome fellow on the way.

It was so nice to back at this beautiful spot with its lovely woodland.

Today: 5 miles, 0 locks and 2.8 hours.
Trip: 105 miles, 53 locks and 69.7 hours.